Channel Five is to create a series of branding-free, genre-based websites around subjects such as TV soaps, featuring its own shows as well as those of rival broadcasters.

The strategy will kick off this weekend with the launch of Holy Soap, a website based around Five's Australian shows Neighbours and Home and Away. But the soap site will also include news and gossip about rival broadcasters' shows such as EastEnders, Emmerdale, Coronation Street and Hollyoaks.

The Holy Soap site follows the launch by the broadcaster's Digital Media Group of Five Fwd, a cars and gadgets portal aimed at young men that features full episodes of The Gadget Show and Fifth Gear. A cricket-related microsite hosting video coverage of this summer's Ashes Test series between England and Australia will also go live soon.

Holy Soap will not have any Five branding in a bid to pull in viewers who are interested in soaps across the different channels.

The portal, www.five.tv/holysoap, will become the official UK home of Neighbours and Home and Away, superseding their current individual websites, with fans able to watch full episodes of the shows on the day they are broadcast as well as up to 30 days' worth of past instalments.

Viewers can watch episodes of the shows online for free, with Five seeking to make money from pre-roll ads. The broadcaster has also done a deal with Brightcove to allow people to embed the shows on their own websites.

The site will also include trailers of upcoming storylines, full episode guides, cast and character profiles, exclusive interviews and image galleries of the Aussie soaps, as well as links to episodes of rival shows on the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 websites.

Five's head of digital media, Jonathan Lewis, said: "We're not precious. We know that soap fans have voracious appetites and that many of the same people who love Neighbours and Home and Away love the soaps on the other channels, too.

"So it makes sense to construct a destination where individuals can share their love of all the big soaps on TV. And who knows? We may drive some Corrie fans or EastEnders aficionados to rediscover the joys of Five's Aussie soaps, too."

The Digital Media Group also manages catchup service Demand Five, which launched in July 2008 and delivers around two million longform video streams a month.

Five Sales will sell the video advertising around the Home and Away and Neighbours episodes and previews on Holy Soap. Digital media agency Unanimis will be responsible for selling display advertising on the site, which was designed by Taglab and developed by Unboxed Consulting.

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